Ella Fitzgerald Song Experiment

The hypothesis was that the average heart rate would decrease by about 3-8 beats per minute after listening to the Ella Fitzgerald song (with a bpm of 52) for two minutes. The hypothesis also was that after listening to Bach for two minutes (with a bpm of 80,) that the average heart rate of the participants would increase by 5-7 beats per minute, and after listening to Green Day for two minutes (with a bpm of 139,) that the average heart rate of participants would increate by about 7-12 beats per minute. The data supports the hypothesis quite soundly as the predictions made were accurately displayed by the data that was collected and processed. The hypothesis that the Ella Fitzgerald song would cause an average decrease of about 3-6 beats …show more content…
However, the results are quite reliable in the sense that this experiment could be easily repeated with different participants and the results would (hopefully) be consistent with the findings in this lab. We can see the reliability of this lab also by looking at the three trials that each participant had to do for each condition (i.e. resting heart rate and listening to the songs), and by seeing if those numbers were similar and consistent with each other. The data is sufficient to answer the research question as it encompasses both the occasions of heart rate increasing and decreasing as a result of various music tempos, and supports the hypothesis. The range of the independent variable was appropriate as it demonstrated the results of both an increase and a decrease in tempo, and it took the results further because it showed how the faster a tempo is, the more it will increase one’s heart rate. There is one anomalous data occurrence with Participant 2; this participant starts with a normal resting heart rate of 85, then after listening to the Ella Fitzgerald song, this person’s heart rate rises 7 beats per minute to 92 bpm, and also gets a 92 bpm after listening to the Bach song. This could be explained through the interruption of the experiment by an excited classmate who was unaware that an experiment was taking place and began talking just as the pulse was about to be measured after listening to the Fitzgerald song. It is also possible that the sudden and unexpected jump is due to the participant’s excitement for the genre of Jazz and thus her heart rate increased. The qualitative data supports the hypothesis and is a valid and helpful tool when investigating the manner in which the increase and decrease of heart rate is